Typical utility costs in Portland (apartments, rent, how much)

[dreamingbig]

Portland utility costs per month?

Electric?

Oil/natural gas/oil if any?

Cable/home phone/high speed internet bundles?

Do you guys pay for water?

[sueisme]

Gosh. I think your utility bills, for the most part, will depend on the size of your house or apartment and how much electric/heat/etc you use. We live in a bungalow and our electric bills seem to run about $70-$80/month and gas about $20, although I suspect that bill will go up since we've recently cranked on our furnace. We do a cable/internet package that's about $80/month. If you live in Portland and own your place, be prepared for water department bill shock. We just got our first bill -- it's $200 a quarter. Garbage/recycling is about $25/mo. Hope that's helpful.

[iliketrains]

Are you looking into an apartment or house? Obviously larger the house and the more living in the house will change your costs. There are many variables, is the residence a new construction? How “eco” friendly are you?


When I lived in a decent sized 3 bedroom bungalow with finished basement, our electric was around 100-125 a month (5 people were living here), gas varied between 30-75, water bill came at random, but was about $250 every 2-3 months. Garbage was included with the rent, which isn't all that normal. I don't remember how much interest cost me, shop around, phone/cable/internet bundles are always being advertised around 100 bucks a month. Comcast is the major one advertising.


I also lived in a mid-sized 1 bedroom alone in NW, near the Pearl. Hot water, garbage and regular water was included with rent. My electricity bill was about 20 bucks a month in the summer and 50 in the winter (electric heat). For some reason, I never had much need to turn my heat on in the Winter, the apartment was always around 67 degrees (i'm pretty frugal). I now pay NYC rent and utilities. When I go through my old reciepts, I want to cry.

[dreamingbig]

Either a three bedroom ranch style house in the Multnomah county or a two bedroom apartment. It all depends whether my brother wants to transfer colleges.

[iliketrains]

Originally Posted by dreamingbig

Either a three bedroom ranch style house in the Multnomah county or a two bedroom apartment. It all depends whether my brother wants to transfer colleges.

Well it's obvious having a two bedroom apartment will cost significantly less. You'll have less space, but that will help with heating and cooling costs. Also, most apartment buildings include water and trash in with the rent.

[Katyblue]

Anyone have an idea about the average electric/gas bill would be for a studio/1br apt in PDX might be?

I pay about $75/month electric for my non A/C, non heated 1br apt now in HNL.

Of course thats assuming the building pays for water, trash and sewer, like most places advertise. Is curbside recycling pretty much everywhere? Is that an addl bill?

[davemess10]

Most apartments in town I have seen are electric heated, so we don't have a gas bill. A lot of the apartments here can also be very poorly insulated, which I'm just finding out this winter. The windows are thin, and so are the walls. We're on the top floor, and figured we wouldn't have to heat our place as much, with the rising heat from our neighbors below. Was paying about $25/month in the summer, now $80/month for electricity. Was pretty shocked by the drastic increase. (Our place is 2 bedroom 900 feet). I do have friends with electricity included in their rent.

Most places should include garbage/recycling, water, and such. We only pay electricity and internet (if you want it).

[Ryant]

Yeah, about the same as davemess10.. in a 1 bedroom apartment.

[Katyblue]

Ryant and davemess10, do you guys have an A/C window unit, central air or neither?

[Ryant]

I have an A/C window unit. The summers were more like $30/m, winters are ~$75/m with the electric heaters. I didn't need to run the AC very much.

I think the electricity here is cheaper then a lot of places because of all the hydro-electric power.